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Children’s Home Society of Virginia Announces Resignation of President and CEO, Nadine Marsh-Carter

Children’s Home Society of Virginia Announces Resignation of President and CEO Nadine Marsh-Carter and Appointment of Mel Tull as Interim CEO

December 1, 2022: Children’s Home Society of Virginia, one of Virginia’s oldest non-profit human services agencies announced today the resignation of Nadine Marsh-Carter, who has been President and CEO since 2006, effective January 1, 2023.  Former Board Chair, Mel Tull, has agreed to lead the agency as Interim CEO while the Board undertakes a search for Ms. Marsh-Carter’s permanent replacement.  Effective, January 3, 2023, Ms. Marsh-Carter will become President of the Cameron Foundation which is based in Petersburg, Virginia and serves the Tri-Cities area.

“I look forward to working with the CHSVA Board and Staff to ensure a seamless transition to a new CEO who will lead the organization into the future.  Our goal is always to provide caring, professional, trauma informed services to the children, youth, and families of Virginia, and we will continue to meet that goal,” said Interim CEO, Mel Tull.

Board Chair, John Owen Gwathmey, added, “Nadine has done a tremendous job over the last sixteen years growing CHSVA’s array of services and ensuring that our services are designed to meet the critical needs of our community. While hers will be enormous shoes to fill, Nadine has assembled an outstanding leadership team that all of us on the Board are confident will work closely with our new CEO to take CHSVA to new heights. We are excited for Nadine’s incredible opportunity to lead the Cameron Foundation, but know that because of her strong leadership of CHSVA, we are very well positioned to continue to provide important assistance to families in need in Virginia. Mel Tull served on the Board of CHSVA for 10 years and was instrumental, along with Nadine, in growing CHSVA and expanding its services and influence in the community. We are confident that Mel can provide the leadership we need for CHSVA to continue to fulfill its important mission to build strong, permanent families and lifelong relationships for Virginia’s at-risk children and youth. We have appointed a search committee to identify an outstanding permanent candidate who can lead us into the future.”

“The last sixteen years have been the most professionally rewarding ones of my life,” said Marsh-Carter.  “My association with CHSVA goes all the way back to my days serving as attorney for parents who were adopting through the agency. I adopted my children through CHSVA and later served on the Board before becoming President and CEO. CHSVA will always be a part of my life and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to have served some of Virginia’s most vulnerable citizen’s through CHSVA. I know CHSVA’s great team of employees, volunteers and supporters will continue to innovate and expand, and I will always be rooting them on.”

Executive Biographies

Mel Tull served 10 years as a volunteer board member of CHSVA, at various times as Board Chair, Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair. Mel is currently Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Bankers Insurance, LLC, where he serves on the company’s senior leadership team. Previously, Mel served as General Counsel at the Virginia Bankers Association, Partner at Hunton & Williams, Consultant at Arthur Andersen, and as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Mel earned his law degree from the University of Virginia and an accounting degree from Virginia Tech. He is dedicated to his community and has participated in Leadership Metro Richmond and Lead Virginia, two non-profit organizations that bring together people from all backgrounds to study the opportunities and challenges facing the Richmond region and the Commonwealth of Virginia. Currently, Mel serves as a volunteer board member of Henrico CASA, a non-profit organization of volunteers who serve as court appointed special advocates (CASAs) for abused and neglected children. Mel’s wife, Annemarie, is a pediatrician in a local practice.  They have three children ages 17, 19 and 23.

John Owen Gwathmey is Board Chair of Children’s Home Society of Virginia. John Owen is a partner on the corporate team at Troutman Pepper, one of the country’s largest law firms. His practice focuses on Mergers and Acquisitions. John Owen and his wife are adoptive parents, and he has been on the CHSVA Board since 2018. He is a graduate of Princeton University and received both his JD and MBA from the University of Virginia. Among other community service activities, he is a former Board President of Historic Richmond Foundation, former Board President and current Vice President of Aylett County Day School, and former Vice President of King William Little League.

About Children’s Home Society of Virginia (CHSVA): CHSVA is a non-sectarian human services agency serving some of Virginia’s most vulnerable children, youth, and families. Founded in 1900, CHSVA has served nearly 17,000 children, youth, and families over the past 122 years. CHSVA focuses on the adoption of children and youth from the foster care system, the support of families who have adopted and, through its My Path Forward program, serves youth from 17 to 25 who have aged out of the foster care system through no fault of their own. CHSVA also advocates for improvements to the Virginia Foster Care system. Its mission is to create strong permanent families and life-long relationships for Virginia’s at-risk children and youth.

Contact:  Bruin S. Richardson, III, Chief Advancement Officer

804-353-0191 ext. 160 or [email protected]